News and events for the week ending 23rd November 2018 Friday 23rd November 2018 Opening words from the Executive PrincipalGood afternoon, Kia ora tatou, 你好 The school feels lopsided today. To my left, as I sit in my office on a sunny Thursday afternoon, the Primary School is bustling around as usual. Year 6 students are ready for their Graduation this evening, excitedly remembering their early days at the school, when they were small, before the responsibilities of seniority took over. The little ones, fresh from having a Wednesday lunch with their teddy bears, are hoping that the storms forecast for Monday hold off long enough for the full Teddy Bears Picnic to take place (my own little B.F.T. is also hoping for this!). I like this time of day: I can hear the sounds of happy children emerging from their classrooms to tuck into their lunches with the prospect of an hour’s freedom to come. Behind me, Junior College is a little quieter than usual. Thirty students are on a boat somewhere to my east, battling the wild with Mr Johansen and Mr Reynolds. I don’t imagine they slept much last night, but I shall be sure to ask when they arrive back in port (school) in a couple of hours time. And to my right… a slightly unsettling silence prevails as the wind rushes through the empty passageways between College 2 and College 3. There is nobody in College. Year 9 students left this morning for either the Chelsea Sugar Factory and a little illumination about recycling and plastics, or for the Maritime Museum and a trip out on a boat (boats feature heavily at this time of year). Year 10 clambered aboard a double-decker bus just after 9 am this morning, kitted out in clothes to repel the anticipated rain. They are now a couple of hundred miles to our southeast, launching themselves at a tramp up, around and down the Pinnacles. They will be back on Friday. Our senior students are on holiday now, the exams having ended on Friday. Well, I hope their holiday features work as well! A little retail experience is worth its weight in gold. Next week, though, 60 of our senior students head off to Sandspit, and from there to Great Barrier Island for a week of our Senior Leadership Camp: it’s a wonderful camp, and the students will enjoy every minute of their time off the grid (it has very poor mobile reception) and in each other’s company. Next year, we are going to continue our expansion of trips and experiences outside the school. It’s a key part of who we are, and an essential part of a child’s education. At the heart of our school lies, of course, our curriculum, rigorous, robust and inclusive. And, surrounding our curriculum, supplementing it and integrated within it, is our broader, holistic education: sports, trips and tramps, camps, music, drama, chess, debating, charity work, the Model UN… Look out for more next year! Probably my favourite events this week have been the Primary and Junior College Sports Prize-givings. We have so many talented, committed sportspeople in our school, and listening to the parade of outstanding achievements made me very proud indeed. Congratulations to all those who were recognised, and a huge thank you to the parents and staff who enable so much sport in our school to take place. I’m especially pleased by the willingness of our children to give new sports a go, and I’m expecting this to continue next year. Our participation in school sports is between 70% and 80% every year. Our goal is to hit 90%, and we are going to keep exploring new ways to reach that figure. In the newsletter next week, we will go through staff who are leaving and staff who will be replacing them next year. I’m glad to say that we don’t have too much movement this year in either Primary or College, but I know you will want to use the last week in school to say goodbye to those staff who are leaving. Looking forward, I am also very excited by the curriculum and technology developments we have in place for next year. Over the past couple of weeks, we have been reviewing the work we have done this year and completing our planning for next year. We have done a good amount of what we said we would do, but we also have more to do, more to develop, more to improve. When you start with such a strong base, as we do, it’s wonderful to be able to anticipate the needs of the future, and to plan in the knowledge that you can make changes that will continue to benefit our students, our children, as they move from one phase of their schooling to the next. Have a lovely weekend. WEEK 7: Monday 26th November
Tuesday 27th November
Wednesday 28th November
Thursday 29th November
Friday 30th November
WEEK 8 Monday 3rd December
Tuesday 4th December
Wednesday 5th December
Thursday 6th December - TERM 4 ENDS 如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击此处 Kia Ora, EOTC has been a significant focus this week for the College. A group of Year 7 and Year 8 students were out of school on Wednesday and Thursday completing the Boys and Girls vs Wild Expedition. The weather was a bit wild for them while they were sailing on Wednesday, but they stepped up to the challenge and had a brilliant time. As I write this our Year 10 students are making their way down from their overnight stay in the Pinnacles hut in the Coromandel Ranges. Our Year 9 cohort are also currently out of school; half of the year group are on a commerce trip and are exploring the Chelsea sugar factory. The second half of the cohort are on a social sciences trip to the Auckland Viaduct, looking at the redevelopment of the area. All of these activities are great learning opportunities that our students are privileged to be able to enjoy. On Monday this week we enjoyed a transition day welcoming new students into the College. The aim of the day is to welcome students and start to make them feel part of the Pinehurst family, to help minimise the anxiety around a change in school area. It is also an opportunity to set out our standards and expectations for students. It was great having the opportunity to talk to students transitioning within the school, and also start to get to know the students new to Pinehurst. The college will start the 2019 academic year with 535 students, getting close to capacity in many year groups. The number of students strengthens and provides more opportunities for the college in an extra-curricular context. This week we had the opportunity to interview the students that aspire to be leaders in our school next year. They are an impressive group of students who will be great representatives of our school. They are proud of the school, and many of the applicants spoke of wanting to help younger students to better themselves. In preparation for the interviews students had taken the time to reflect upon the opportunities that they have had as they have progressed through the school. They spoke of the friendships within their cohort and also the values which we believe to be the cornerstone of the school. Many of these students will be on the leadership camp on Great Barrier Island next week and we look forward to them once again stepping up to the challenges in front of them. Ngā mihi, Chris Wiggin and Kieran Verryt Principals of College Year 11 & 12 BlazersA reminder that all Year 11 and 12 students wanting to have their blazers braided, need to hand them into the Uniform Shop straight after Prizegiving on Dec. 5, 2018 please. We are unfortunately unable to accept any blazers that come in after this time. All blazers must be properly named and free from badges as they will be sent to the dry cleaners before the braiding is done. The cost of the dry cleaning ($16.50) will be charged to your school account. Please note: We will not be accepting blazers in January for braiding. 2018 Year 7-8 Sports PrizegivingCongratulations to all students who were recognised at the 2018 Junior College Sports Prizegiving, with a special mention to those students who won one of our Major Sporting Excellence Trophies for 2018. Full results (all awards) and all the photos from the Sports Prizegiving can be found on our Pinehurst Sport Facebook Page. Year 10 Beach DayOn Friday 16th November the Year 10 students from Matai, Totara and Kauri went to Orewa beach for the afternoon. After a long week of exams the students unwound at the beach by participating in a Nerf war activity, beach games such as volleyball and cricket and a little bit of sunbathing. A good time was had by all. Well done Year 10 for nearly completing the year. Year 10 Rimu Day OutTo celebrate the end of a significant week of exams and to further build House Spirit, last Friday Year 10 students from Rimu House left school for the afternoon to go to Mission Bay. It was a brilliant afternoon out on the water. The students enjoyed paddle boarding on the super-sized paddle boards, which required 6 students to work together as a team to navigate through the water. There was lots of laughing, splashing of teachers and parkour style jumping between boards on show. Ice-cream and chips were had afterwards on the beach in the sunshine. It was a great finish to a busy week. DoE Qualifer TrampYesterday Year 10 embarked on their Duke of Ed Qualifier in the Pinnacles region. After an interesting bus ride on a double decker, they tramped from Trestle View campsite to the Pinnacles hut - 500m of vertical climbing. Most of the group went up to the summit in the morning, starting at 5.30am for the sunrise. They will continue their tramp via the Billy goat track. A total of 20km. as you can see the scenery and weather are stunning. Year 8 Girls & Boys v Wild AdventureIt has been ‘all hands on deck’ for a large group of our Y8 students who have just returned looking exhausted from our annual Girls & Boys v Wild adventure. This year Mr Johansen decided to step it up a notch extending the experience from one day to an overnighter with two days sailing the Hauraki Gulf on board NZ Sailing Trust’s Steinlager 2. Our staff were immensely proud of our 27 young Year 8 leaders. They stepped up to all the weird food and crazy team challenges and sailed successfully in a wild range of conditions to the outer south east tip of Waiheke and its neighbouring islands. They worked well together, looking after each other, their staff and the NZ sailing crew, cooking meals and cleaning up afterwards. Not only did they function well in groups, our students made a positive impact on the Hauraki environment, getting their hands dirty undertaking beach clean ups and cutting back walking tracks on Rotoroa Island. They also learnt about many of our native and protected species. We would like to thank the NZ Sailing Trust and their crew for the opportunity, maritime knowledge and willingness to work with our students. New Student Orientation DayThere was a lot of excitement and a little nervous energy this Monday when our current Year 6 students and accompanying external Year 6 students attended the New Student Orientation Day. The day started with a welcome in our College 4 Building, some quick introductions, followed by the roll out of new SNAP devices and opportunities for students to connect to the school network on their devices. Once all connections were established, the students were given a virtual tour of Schoolbox, our online Learning Management System, and Office 365. They finished the session with an online quiz to assess how well they had listened and show what they had learned about Pinehurst. Just before morning tea, all students were mixed up, led by our Year 7 Student helpers to experience a series of shorter lessons around the College. These included a Robotics session, a Science experiment, a PE lesson and an Art lesson before they listened to the Year 7 Dean, Mrs McPherson talk about the Year 7 Camp early next term and had a shared lunch. We were impressed with their enthusiasm, knowledge and willingness to get involved and we look forward to them joining the College and to the contributions they will make. Year 8 ScienceYear 8 students have been learning about static electricity. To demonstrate the relationship between positive and negative charges, students worked with a Van de Graaff generator. It was hilarious to see each others hairs strands repel each other! Technology Use in the Music ClassroomWith a school-wide focus on being more eco-friendly this year, the College Music department has embraced the digital forum as a main mean of communicating and disseminating material with its students. Students have been able to access theory exercises online, music pieces online and from next year all co-curricular music groups will be able to access their scores through Schoolbox. Year 8-9 are currently in the process of wrapping up their theory and practical components of the course and with the aid of technology, they can get instant feedback on their progress. From 2019, Year 10-12 music students will be given access to Musition, an interactive drill-based teaching software that makes learning music theory highly engaging and fun! Regardless of the students’ musical style, the music theory exercises in Musition will help them expand and reinforce their knowledge. It is an easy to use software and is perfect from beginners to advanced students. To find out more, click here for a tour of the programme. Ribbon Day Podium FinishA huge congratulations to our Pinehurst Junior College Equestrian team of Grace Benshaw, Jaimie Botha, Eve Larsen and Amelia Munro who this week placed an outstanding 3rd overall out of 22 teams at the Intermediate Schools Ribbon Day in Papatoetoe. All girls performed exceptionally well, taking home multiple placings across both the dressage and show jumping. A special mention to our wonderful team manager, Jo Craddock, and to all the parents who assisted with the team on the day. Please see our Facebook Page for additional photos and full results from the event. Kia Ora, Whilst our students are gearing up for the long summer break and enjoying their end of year activities, as teachers we are planning for 2019 and making sure that everything is in place for the new year before we spend some time with our own families. Every year is a transition for a child and their family but there are some key points where we put in some extra support because we know that the change from one year to another will be a little greater. Obviously when a child first starts school we need to prepare them by bringing them in, meeting the teacher and showing them the classroom so that their first day will be a little more familiar. This coming week we will welcome our Term 1 New Entrants and spend some time with them to help them become more familiar with their new class. Our Year 6 students spent a very enjoyable Monday morning in the Junior College this week, finding their way around, meeting new teachers and classmates from other schools and learning what it is like to be a member of Pinehurst College. Their day will be quite different as they move around to six different classes but there will be things that are familiar such as being in a homeroom plus the language and music teachers they work with and some of the students in their class. It was wonderful to meet with Year 3 parents last week so that we could work together to prepare and transition students into Year 4. Although they are still in the same school there are some changes for them socially, emotionally and academically that we work together to make it as easy as possible for parents and children. Every teacher will receive information about each child in their new class by the end of term by talking with the previous teacher and looking at samples of work and data so they are prepared for their class from the first day of term. We will be holding our first parent conferences of the year on the 25th and 26th of January so that we can complete the transition process and have everything in place for the first day. It can be an exciting and worrying time for young children, not everyone likes change but rest assured that we will do everything we can to make it a great experience. It would be good to prepare your child for a new class, teacher and friends during the holidays. They will find out their class mid-January so take the opportunity to create an exciting and positive experience before they start so it will help them to settle to learning more easily. Enjoy your weekend. Ngā mihi, Sian Coxon, Principal of Primary 2018 Primary Sports PrizegivingCongratulations to all students who were recognised earlier this week at the 2018 Primary Sports Prizegiving, with a special mention to those students who won one of our 4 Major Sporting Excellence Trophies for 2018. Full results (all awards) and all the photos from the Sports Prizegiving can be found on our Pinehurst Sport Facebook Page. Staying Healthy and Sending Love in P19!As part of our Healthy Eating unit in Health, the children in P19 have been learning to read nutritional information labels correctly. We have been reflecting on our own diets, developing healthy food-related behaviours in our everyday lives. Effective food and nutrition education helps enable students to make informed decisions about food that will contribute to their own well-being. Recently, we have been looking at the sugar content in our foods and were shocked to find so much hidden sugar in our drinks! Even the so-called ‘organic’ varieties had over 7 teaspoons of sugar! Not to mention Coca Cola - which had a whopping 65g in 600mls – that is equivalent to over 16 teaspoons! We all agreed drinking water is the way to go! The Sending Love Project is about people and communities coming together to make a festive gesture towards another person who may experience loneliness over Christmas. It is one person putting love and thought into a card to pass a smile and a sense of feeling remembered and loved onto another person. The children in P19 have enjoyed writing letters and poems which made them reflect about the power of a simple act of kindness, and the impact this can have on the recipient. Teddy Bear fun in P11P11 students arrived today, all armed with their Teddy Bears, ready for a fun filled lunchtime on the field. Unfortunately, the weather decided otherwise and it has been postponed until Monday. We made the most of the day in our classroom, spreading rugs and sharing popcorn and having fun with our teddies. Some of the teddies are having sleepovers in the classroom so we can now do it all again on Monday. P8 Teddy BearsIf you go down to the Primary today For every bear that ever there was Wednesday was certainly an exciting day in P8, teddy bears and soft toys joined in the learning and were even treated to an inside picnic lunch. Each subject had a teddy bear theme, from measuring teddies to graphing their colour. P8 wrote an information report on bears or soft toys and reading was just delightful. This was certainly the best day ever for students and teddies! GaTE English Poetry WritingThe primary GaTE students are currently writing poetry. The Year 5 and 6 students are busy creating their Anthologies of poetry while the Year 4 students are learning about a variety of poetic forms. The Year 5 students have each chosen a theme that is pertinent to them, while the Year 6 students are writing their collection around their Year 6 experience. We have focused on many varied forms and had a great deal of fun playing with language. I Spy in the PrimaryI Spy....fruit collages in P17. I Spy....colouring in pictures for the Teddy Bear Picnic colouring competition! I Spy....a special visitor in P21! I Spy....Mr Reed picnicking with P1 and their teddies! I Spy....Year 1 using leap frog to measure distance. I Spy.....Year 6 and their PrEP Market creations. I Spy....Rainbow Reading with their bears in Year 3. Prompt Payment DiscountThe Board of Governors has agreed a 2.5% prompt payment discount for 2019 Tuition Fees paid in advance before 30th November 2018 by Internet banking/cheque and 2.0% by credit card. These discounts represent an equivalent return of 2.5% / 2.0% (credit card) on fees advanced for an average of six months, which equates to 5% / 4% (credit card) per annum after tax. At the highest tax rate of 33% the annual saving would be even higher at 7.46% / 5.97 (credit card). This is very favourable compared to other means of return in New Zealand at present. Parent Thank You Morning TeaThis is a 'thank you' morning tea for any parents who have helped with school activities throughout the year. Please come along on Wednesday 28th November at 10am. RSVP: judy.wallace@pinehurst.school.nz Final Informal Music ConcertThe fourth and final Informal Music concert of this year will be held on Wednesday the 28th of November, in C2 from 4.30pm. There are a few limited spaces available for students of all ages to present a number or two, no matter their skills level. These concerts invite students to showcase their performance skills in an informal setting to help them develop and gain experience. Please get in touch with marija.naumovska@pinehurst.school.nz if your child would like to perform. Next year a further four Informal Music concerts will be held and four Formal ones to showcase our musical talented students, of which we are lucky to have many at Pinehurst School. Pinehurst Christmas ServiceYou are warmly invited to attend our Pinehurst Christmas Service. This will be held in the Gymnasium, Thursday 6 Dec, 2.00pm - 3.15pm. We look forward to enjoying this special, traditional occasion with you. Thank you again for your generous contributions to our beautiful Christmas Hampers for the charity organisation, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. Christmas Family PicnicYou are warmly invited to our Christmas Picnic Wednesday 5th December 5–8pm on the lower fields. This is a fun evening for the children with rides for all ages (cash only), music, performances, face painting, lolly scramble and more. Santa will be there! A wonderful end to the school year. There will be Market Stalls (a great opportunity to buy Christmas gifts or 'stocking stuffers'). Food vans available (no eftpos) but feel free to bring along your picnic and your friends. Relax with a wine and socialize with other parents. A great evening not to be missed. North Shore Youth MusicNorth Shore Youth Music is a community organisation which runs a variety of orchestras and choirs for young people. Applications are now being accepted for 2019, and auditions will be held on Wednesday 5th,and 19th December. See www.nsym.org.nz for an application form. Orchestras
Choirs
Cammando Basketball CampRegistrations are now open - these need to be confirmed by December 5 at the email address below. Junior - Years 1-4, Intermediate - Years 5-8 Camps include:
Where: Pinehurst School, 75 Bush Road, Albany. When: Junior Camp (Year 1-4): Monday 10 December and Tuesday 11 December, 10am - 3pm (Doors open at 9:30am) - Intermediate Camp (Year 5-8): Thursday 13 December and Friday 14 December, 10am - 3pm (Doors Open at 9:30am) Cost: $125 Per athlete (includes both days) Registration: All players must register before attending. Email: cammando_basketball@outlook.com. Please include athletes name, school, age and an email with registration information will be sent to you. School Holiday Tennis Coaching
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